Moon Night Trekking at Skandagiri Mountain

The title of this post is quite misleading as it was not a "Moon night or "Moon-Walk" by Michael Jackson but we experienced more than kinda dance by trekking on Skandagiri also called as Kalavara Durga (peak is of 1350 Mt altitude source-Wiki :P) 40 KM from Bengaluru, and 3 KM from Chickballapur. This mid-night trekking as it is convention to exaggerate about this adventurous trip (see everything is relative and should be gauged accordingly) we hired two Qualis; total 18 pro trekkers(:P) happily seated and kicked-off from the Forum Mall, Kormangala at midnight precisely 12:30 A.M. on June 13th i.e., two days after my birthday; so as usual imagining a great inception on my new year. It was in the way towards Hebal, Bangalore International Airport the roads are slick so was the drivers; we reached Chickballapur quickly. As we thought the place was a village kind but it is perfectly fine place on par with Bangalore City standards moreover we couldn't find any person on road (why the darn people be awake at 2 A.M to offer us a grand welcome?? :P but I mean I didn't find any vagabond sleeping on the road side might be the place living standards shows a good economic sign..this is not an axiom so don't draw any info further).

As we know everything cannot be planned ideal in overnight this is one such trip so we do have let-outs like we know what place to go but after Chickballapur we have no clue of the Kalavara Durga hills. So we were looking curiously if any heck of a guy is awake to guide us; but finally found one and was told which direction to go. This time we found no street light as we are moving away from village and interior part of some base of the hill. As said by the man we got inside some arch where temple is located and went interior of it finally reached a dead-end where we have no clue of the people. As it was too dark, we took torch lights (thanks to the organizers of the trip who arranged it) & started searching for the mountain professional guides but no clue of them in fact no living being was sighted. We got confused by lightbees as the people going with torch lights. For sometime we scoured the place in the hope of trekkers around. So after sometime it is confirmed we took a "WRONG TURN".

Some of us felt we could be mugged at this place as we came to no-man's land in the darkness. So many things ran into our mind thinking about wild animals to the victims which can be used for a script of the sequel of movie "Wrong Turn". Its not that horrifying situation as we could able to make decision quickly to return back to the base(Chickballapur) and ask for the route. This time we are guided in a right direction. Finally reached the base of Skandagiri at 2:45 am. We were informed by 1 am we should start from the base of the hill as we could reach to see the wonderful view of sunrise and angels above the clouds (:D). So all set now we started at 3:00 am from the base by taking a snap and head-count (8 girls and 10 boys).

As it is the base of the hill we felt a bit chilly so many of us wore sweat shirts to jerkins. Initially it is less steeper as we are heading it became more slope & slippery. We are behind the guide and following like sheeps behind guardian dog (don't make literal meanings). Or you can say him as a sheperd and we are flocks of sheep. We took many breaks during the trek as it is too tiring for the beginners like us ( this is contradictory to the aforementioned professional trekkers :O). Luckily it was not raining that day otherwise it would be more slippery and unsafe. He took us like in a maze but we knew that we can hold clouds and can puncture it to drink rain water (how illogical am I ?..Yes because what I have studied may not be true always this was a known-unknown for me). Some of them cursing themselves as they would have happily slept like a log after a hard-working weekend. Some of us thought to give-up the climbing. But eventually with no choice left than to follow the shepard. We were focusing lights upward in the sky and we could feel that clouds were not very far from us. Also we knew that when we reach to the top of the him we are above the clouds. During this time we took snaps but there is a heavy mist which couldn't get a proper image of us. This time we are sure we are puncturing the clouds and distance 1 metre far is invisible to us. So no choice than to follow the sheperd.

When we were heading to no-where we were greeted by the dawn and found few meters away from the pinnacle. We reached the top of the hill at 5:20 A.M. Already many people were there at that time with tents and some people are behind us. As it is visible now we can see everyone around us but we are still inside the cloud only. so we didn't surpassed the clouds some of us disappointed as we couldn't see the sunrise either due to dense-clouds. If it was a perfect day like most of the days our reactions would be different. We people had Maggi, tea and arranged a campfire. Most of us didn't regretted the trekking part as we felt it was the most fun. If we could see the clouds and sunrise then it would be perfect for us. We stayed on the top of the hill for 1:30 hr by taking snaps, waiting for maggi, tea. As Skandagiri is known as the "adventurer's paradise" and features a beautiful night trek, altitude camping, stunning sunrise, and serene and ocean like clouds. All we experienced is only a beautiful night trek which is very satisfying to most of us.

While getting down the hill we came across some scenic views which made us feel good and strong.